Zeynep Arsel

Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing

Zeynep Arsel received her PhD in Marketing from University of Wisconsin-Madison with minors in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology. She also holds a MBA degree from Middle East Technical University and a BSc in Management from Bilkent University. Dr. Arsel’s work broadly explores how cultural narratives, structures and institutions shape individual consumption practices. On a practical level, her research has applications to fashion and home design, sustainability and social media use. She published articles in the Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Marketing and routinely presents at international conferences.

Dr. Arsel’s research is funded by Marketing Science Institute, Association for Consumer Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, WIRED, Psychology Today, Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, The Star Phoenix, Canada.com, La Presse, Miller Mc-Cune, Wisconsin Public Radio, Yahoo News, LiveScience and numerous blogs.

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Selected Research

Refereed Journal Articles

Arsel, Zeynep and Craig J. Thompson (2011) “Demythologizing Consumption Practices: How Consumers Protect their Field-Dependent Identity Investments From Devaluing Marketplace Myths,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (February), 791-806

Thompson, Craig J., Aric Rindfleisch and Zeynep Arsel (2006) “Emotional Branding and the Strategic Value of the Doppelgänger Brand Image”, Journal of Marketing, 1(January), 50-64.

Thompson, Craig J. and Zeynep Arsel, (2004) “The Starbucks Brandscape and Consumers’ (Anti-Corporate) Experiences of Glocalization”, Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (December), 631-643.

Book Chapters

Arsel, Zeynep and Xin Zhao (forthcoming in 2012), “Blogs” in The Digital Consumer, eds. Russell Belk and Rosa Llamas, Routledge .

Refereed Conference Presentations

Arsel, Zeynep and Susan Dobscha (forthcoming in 2011), “Hybrid Pro-social Exchange Systems: The Case of Freecycle”, Association for Consumer Research Conference, October 2011, St Louis, MO

Debenedetti, Alain, Philippe Mérigot and Zeynep Arsel (2011) “The Continuation of Place Attachment Experience Through Time and Space: The “Coin De Verre” Case", 6th Workshop On Interpretive Consumer Research, May 2011, Odense, Denmark

Arsel, Zeynep and Jonathan Bean (2010) “Networked Styles and Normalizing Taste Narratives”, Association for Consumer Research Conference, October 2010, Jacksonville, FL

Arsel, Zeynep and Susan Dobscha (2010) “Local Acts, Global Impacts?: Examining the Pro-Social, Non-Reciprocal Nature of Freecyclers” European Association for Consumer Research Conference, July 2010, London, UK.

Arsel, Zeynep and Jonathan Bean (2010) “Collective Taste Making: Analyzing Apartment Therapy Narrative”, Consumer Culture Theory Conference, June 2010, Madison, WI.

Arsel, Zeynep and Xin Zhao (2010) "Personal Blogging, Performance and the Quest for Fame", Association for Consumer Research Conference, October 2010, Jacksonville, FL

Arsel, Zeynep (2009) “Exploring the Social Dynamics of Online Bartering” Association for Consumer Research Conference, October 2009, Pittsburgh, PA.

Arsel, Zeynep and Craig J. Thompson (2008) “I Might Consume Like a Hipster, but I am not a Hipster: Myth Markets and Consumer Reflexivity” Consumer Culture Theory Conference, June 2008, Suffolk University, Boston, MA

Arsel, Zeynep and Craig J. Thompson (2005) “Consuming It Cool: Status Multiplicity and Contextualized Cultural Capital” European Association for Consumer Research Conference, June 2005, Göteborg, Sweden

Thompson, Craig J and Zeynep Arsel (2003) “Consumers’ Experiences of Glocalization in a Hegemonic Brandscape: The Case of Starbucks and Local Coffee Shop Culture”, Association of Consumer Research Conference, October 2003, Toronto, ON

Arsel, Zeynep (2002), “Consuming ‘by’ taste or consuming taste: A Revisit to Bourdieu’s Distinction “, Association for Consumer Research Conference, Oct 2002, Atlanta, GA (poster session)